Kasparov's move: From 64 squares to anti-regime voice in Putin's Russia

Former champion added to the list of terrorists extremists’ last week

- AMIT KAMATH

IN NOVEMBER 2007, when Garry Kasparov was serving a five-day prison sentence at a Moscow detention centre for leading protests against President Vladimir Putin, he received a magazine from an old adversary, Anatoly Karpov.

It was an odd gift to receive behind bars. But for Kasparov, it meant a lot. As he recollected in a Timeline documentary later on, the magazine was a 'gesture of solidarity between world champions' that put them above their political differences.

One wonders what Karpov would make of the news that Russia had designated Kasparov as a terrorist Wednesday. It was just the latest consequence of Kasparov's vocal criticism of the powers that be in his native country. He was added to a list of "foreign agents" in May 2022, and has been detained at least twice for his role in anti-government protests.

During their playing career - during which the Russian grandmasters had duelled for the fate of the world chess championship multiple times - Kasparov and Karpov were not known for acts of generosity towards each other. They were as different as two players could be on the board: Karpov, the good, obedient Communist, played chess like a boa constrictor, squeezing the opponent out of breathing space on the board. Kasparov, the rebel with a mind of his own, liked to play an aggressive style of chess.

After retirement, Kasparov had become a world-renowned anti-regime dissident; Karpov was a member of the Russian Public Chamber (a collective government oversight body), and was a vocal supporter of Putin.